Dragon Emblem

bijoukaiba: Konnichiwa! Yeah, sorry I haven't updated in so long... anyway, Seto and Mokuba are heading for the mountains! We'll wait and see what awaits!

Disclaimer: Lemme just say this- I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, but all those bosses belong to me, but Kisara is partially owned by beriath. But Oracle and Morpho are my ideas! *evil grin*

Morpho: Foolish mortal! Begin!

bijoukaiba: Eek! The butterfly man! I gotta go!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 6: Rescue and Treachory

Kenshin gave a smile.

"Well now, those flowers must work wonders, that they must. If your arm is healed, I see no reason why you can't go fighting. But still be careful none the less, Seto-sama."

Marth stepped up, also smiling.

"Ah, yes. But anyway, before you go, you ought to change clothes."

He pointed to Seto's BEWD pajamas, and Mokuba's red and green pajamas.

Seto and Mokuba blushed. Megumi giggled. The Kaiba brothers were so cute!

Marth willingly lent Seto his black outfit, and Yahiko gave Mokuba a black kimono.

"Sweet!" Mokuba commented to his friend, "I feel like a gangster!"

Yahiko nodded vigorously.

As Seto walked out into the sunlight outside the Kamiya Dojo, Megumi felt her heart stop. He was so adorable in Marth's black clothes!

She ran up to him.

"Kaiba, do me a big favor, pretty please? Try not to wreck Marth's clothes too badly, but at least get injured so I can take care of you, okay?"

Megumi fluttered her eyelashes. Sanosuke pulled her back.

"We're really rooting for you Kaiba. Good luck."

He shrugged and walked out of the Dojo. Remembering what Sanosuke said, Seto felt something weird in his heart. What was it? It was a feeling he never had felt before...

He pondered on it for hours as he and Mokuba walked to the mountains, stopping once behind a bush so Mokuba could "take care of business".

At the base of the mountain, Seto looked up at the pale snowy peak, like a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on a cone.

At the same time, without realization, a soldier was watching him with a long-range telescope. Not the kind for star gazing, but one that would give you good views of things a few miles away.

It was the same brown-haired swordsman, he had concluded, who had killed Oracle and his brother down in the forest! He turned to the guard sleeping in his chair by the entrance to a small pathway.

"Wake up!" snarled the soldier, cruelly tipping the chair so his fellow comrade would fall on the ground. "Somebody's coming!"

"I'm awake, I just, um, shut my eyes! Who's coming anyway?" Said the other soldier, with a yawn.

"See that brown-haired swordsman?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, he's the one who killed Oracle, Kisara, and Morpho!"

"What?" he took hold of the scope. "You're right, Malice!"

"See, Julius? We got a real threat here!"

"Yeah, but he'll never beat our old buddy Arcticus, right?"

"Right, raised in the bitter cold of northern Greenland, he's proved he's stronger than Oracle and Morpho and Kisara! But even if that brown-haired swordsman, the one they call "Battousai Reborn" and "Kaiba the Killer", beats Arcticus, he could never beat the man behind those four warriors!"

"Wow! You mean that Arcticus and Oracle and all of them have a leader who controls them? And he's WAY more powerful? Cool! What's his name?"

"He's so great and fantastic, I don't remember his name. I don't even know his name."

"Then how could you forget his name if you don't know it?"

"Shut up, Julius! We gotta go get back up. We'll wait at the entrance of Arcticus' lair, and then when he comes along..." Malice grinned evilly, a glint of bloodthirsty desire in his eyes.

"we'll slaughter him mercilessly!"

~~

Seto scratched the top of his head.

"Funny. I could've sworn I saw something..."

A gust of howling wind brought some snow crystals close to his face.

Mokuba stuck out his tongue.

"Yummy! I haven't eaten snow since that one winter at the orphanage!"

Seto brushed off a bit off snow that landed on his shoulder.

"Come on, Mokuba, let's go."

He walked off, with his brother behind. Seto had a hand on the hilt of his sword, ready if any soldiers dared come near. Seto heard a rustle somewhere, and gripped his sword. He looked around, but nobody was there.

Caught off guard, a cold blast smacked Seto in the back of the head. Whipping around lightning fast, he cried,

"Show yourself!"

He looked down on the ground to see Mokuba sprawled on the ground in laughter.

Angry, Seto shook a nearby tree and a mountain of snow fell on his brother's head. Seto chortled.

"Got you there, Mokuba."

He wondered what would be going on if Kenshin and Marth were also up here in the snowy hills... wait a sec... why did he care what Kenshin and Marth were doing?

"Hey, Seto?"

He shook his head.

"Never mind."

At that moment, another snowball thwacked Seto in the side of the head.

"Oro!" he said as he tripped up.

Oro? Did I really say THAT? Kenshin's really getting to me... and so is Marth... why is this happening? I keep on thinking about them... I've never felt this before... it's not love or hatred... but what?

A snowball struck Mokuba as well.

"Hey, who's there anyway?"

A hooded purple figure stepped in front of them.

"Hiya! I thought those snowballs might catch your attention! Lovely, yes!"

Seto stood up and recognized the person immediately.

"Oh great... not you again!"

He grinned, keeping the cloak draped over his eyes.

"Hiya! I've got something great for you to buy!"

The Kaiba brothers watched as he produced a sparkling clear crystal, with tips in what could almost be described as a "creamy white" color.

"Ooh... pretty..." Mokuba commented, wanting to touch it.

The shopkeeper faced Mokuba.

"Ah! You like! I'm selling it for thirty pieces of gold."

Seto grumbled, handing over a small sack.

As he did this, he noticed something poking out from under the cover of the purple cloak.

"What's that?" He pointed near the shopkeeper's waist.

"What, that? Oh, it's nothing, nothing at all, nothing that concerns you!"

He seemed to be getting grouchier.

"And I really, truly believe I've heard your voice before, in that sort of nasal tone! Not just you or your 'shopkeeping brethren', I've heard it elsewhere!"

"I've never seen you before, now beat it!"

Seto peered at him suspiciously, then he and Mokuba ran off.

The shopkeeper gave an agitated sigh. They finally left.

Curse that idiot Seto Kaiba! He's starting to catch on to my real identity! As long as I keep playing them for fools as that shopkeeper, I can pull a little profit and help keep the 'Master' alerted of Kaiba's doings!

He paused, the "object" rubbing against his skin in a jagged way.

Wincing, he removed the Millennium Rod from under his cloak.

~~

A long rocky path lay ahead of them. Seto looked up at the rugged terrain. He looked at the black boots Marth lent him. They would be wrecked if he tried to climb up there... and Mokuba was wearing a pair of sandals much like Yahiko's... there was no way his little brother could climb up there either! Worse off, Seto noticed, there seemed to be no other way of climbing up the mountain.

Grumbling, Seto gave a sigh and looked around.

"Got any ideas, Mokuba?" No answer. "Mokuba?" Seto twirled around. His brother was nowhere in sight.

"Mokuba!"

Seto shook his head, scowling. Now he had to find his brother in a blizzard beginning to form.

"Greaaaaat. This is just grand. I'd love to hiking in this damn cold blizzard looking for my lost brother!"

Kicking away a bit of snow, Seto stormed off. Mokuba had the crystal, the blowtorch, all the items but Seto's sword... he needed to find his brother... before he got lost...

~~~

An hour passed. Seto's face was red and stinging from gusts of cold wind and snow whipping across his face in the cold.

"Mokuba!" he cried, his voice growing raspy. No answer. A breeze blew fresh powder into Seto's eyes. Wiping angrily, he shouted again.

"Mokuba!!" still no reply. He continued walking, with the snow still stinging his eyes.

"Mokubaaaa!!!" he tripped over into the snow on a tree root. He lay there, thinking about his brother, not minding the snow gathering on his back or the numbness he felt from the cold. His brother was lost, maybe even dying somewhere, and here he was. Seto Kaiba, supposedly the "greatest big brother ever". How great of a big brother was he, with Mokuba lost?

What would Marth or Kenshin have done in a time like this... ACK! I can't stop thinking about them... what's... wrong with... me...

Seto's thoughts were numbed out, like his body, covered in a thin film of snow.

"M-Moku-u-b-b-a..." was all he said, before he passed out.

~~

Ten minutes later.

Mokuba was traveling with his newfound friend and companion. He was big enough to carry the sack of items, and Mokuba was walking in front of him slowly.

"Setoooo!" he cried out. "Big brother, where are you?"

"Seto Kaiba!" cried the companion in his deep bass-toned voice.

Mokuba looked around.

"Oh man... where do you think he is?"

"I don't know, he is YOUR, um, brother, thing."

"Hmm... whoa!" Mokuba suddenly tripped over. Helping him up, his companion asked,

"Mokuba, are you okay? What's wrong?"

Mokuba began to move snow off of what he tripped over. A black cape, black pants, brown hair, and black boots were revealed.

"Oh man... Seto!"

"That's your brother?"

Cradling his older sibling's head in his arms, Mokuba began bawling.

"Why, Seto, WHY?!"

The companion said,

"He may not be dead, young Mokuba."

Mokuba stopped to think. He placed his fingers on the side of Seto's neck.

"Oh, thank God! He's got a faint pulse! If we can warm him up, my big brother will be just fine."

Grabbing the backpack from the companion, he grabbed the blowtorch. Mokuba also yanked Seto's sword out of its scabbard. Slicing off a few branches from the tree, he piled them up into a small tepee shape. Removing a small bottle of fuel from an emergency kit in the pack, he spread a trickle of it over the firewood. Then Mokuba fired the blowtorch and soon a warm blaze was lit.

"Hey, um, what's your name?"

"I never told you! Everybody calls me Woolly."

"Okay. Sit near my brother, Woolly. Help keep him warm with your coat."

"Got it."

~~~Dream~~~

Seto was lost. Not just really lost, damn lost. He was all alone in the darkness. He had always been alone, it seemed like. And here he was again, alone. Only this time, it hurt. It almost hurt enough to make Seto cry. Where was he? Where could everyone be? There was no sign of anyone, not Kenshin or Marth, not Yugi or Mai. Not even Mokuba. He was alone. Until something hurt his eyes, but it hurt in a good way.

Light began to seep in through a crack in what appeared to be the 'sky' of the dark universe he was in.

Two voices began to call him.

"Seto..."

"Seto, come here..."

It was Kenshin and Marth. Somehow, they were floating there, like ghosts. Seto stared at them, finally able to speak.

"Kenshin! Marth! Where am I?"

Marth spoke.

"A place in your mind you have never been. We have been here in the dark, and now you see..."

He paused, smiling at the light shining upon him. Kenshin finished speaking for Marth.

"And now you see the light. The truth. And we are getting stronger, our existence grows in this shadowy realm, as more and more light seeps in."

Seto spoke now.

"I want you guys to stay here, wherever it is in my mind. But what can I do to make you stay? And where is this place anyway?"

Kenshin replied.

"The voices inside you have lead your soul astray. This realm will be known to you by the time we actually tell you."

"But what do I do to leave here and return to real life? And what do I do to help you?"

The cold wind from the mountains returned, blowing by, whispering in Seto's hair. Marth and Kenshin spoke, in a mysterious whisper-like tone.

"Reach for the light..."

Seto reached out a hand for the light above.

"Come out of the darkness, and you will know who you are, and why you are here."

He walked slowly towards the light. Gradually, the radiation grew greater and greater. He began to run.

"I will, Kenshin, I will, Marth! I will be strong!" He ran into the crevice from which the light penetrated.

~~~~~

Seto opened his eyes. He was sitting by a small fire. But what alerted him suddenly was the big mass he was leaning against. Turning around, Seto stumbled away in shock.

A mammoth. A real, woolly, mammoth. Seto wanted to yell or even scream, but suddenly Mokuba tripped over and fell into his lap.

"Seto! You're alive! And awake! Thank goodness!"

"Heh, the winds may blow cold, but I'll always do whatever I can to be here for you, Mokuba. We're brothers, and brothers gotta stick together. Now then, do you know what or who that is?"

"A mammoth. He's my friend! His name is Woolly. He even said so."

"Huh? SAID so?"

"Seto, remember the crystal, in the item sack, and I took it with me?"

"Yeah..."

"The crystal really belongs to Woolly. It lets him speak! He doesn't have too great a memory or use of language..."

Seto turned to look as the mammoth with brownish-red fur interrupted.

"Ha-ha, very funny Mokuba."

"Anyway, he's adapted to climb up the mountainside, so he'll gladly give us a ride to the top in exchange for the crystal!"

"Well... all right... I don't see any harm in it..."

"Great! Hey, Woolly?"

The mammoth stood up.

"Let me guess, you want to ride on me to the top."

"Please?"

"Um... okay. I can obviously carry both of you. The question is," he said with a chuckle. "can you climb on my back?"

In about two seconds, Seto was on the mammoth's back.

"Yeah, I think so. Here, Mokuba, grab my hand. Be careful not to kick Woolly."

Being assisted by his older brother and Woolly's trunk, Mokuba sat on the mammoth's back, in front of Seto.

As Woolly began to trudge up the hill, Seto engaged in conversation.

"So anyway, you're a woolly mammoth?"

"Actually, no, I'm known as a Duel Monster, I think it's called. Yes, a Duel Monster. Arctic Mammoth to be exact."

Seto stared forward, straight ahead, eyes wide in shock.

"A Duel Monster?"

"Yes, I was created here, by a man... I don't know him too well, though..."

"Duel Monsters are from the future, so how can you be here in the past... unless..."

Mokuba spoke up.

"Unless, Seto, we've fought this enemy before in the past, err, future."

"Yeah..."

Woolly commented,

"If it's any help to you, I heard he works with a certain type of magic. What was it called? I know the definition, but not the word... it's the dark thing by you when you stand in the light..."

"Shadow?" Mokuba asked

"Yes, a shadow! Thank you! Shadow magic, it's called."

Mokuba looked at Seto uneasily.

"Then maybe we have fought someone like that before!"

"Like maybe we're up against Pegasus... or Marik... or Yami Bakura... or Yugi..." Seto said, a growl rising in his throat.

"Scratch Yugi, he works for the IDA. It's gotta be one of the other three."

"Probably Yami Bakura."

"Yeah. I heard from Yugi that Pegasus is supposedly dead."

"But yet, how do the clues fit...?"

Both Kaiba brothers sat pondering for a few minutes, when suddenly Woolly alerted them.

"Excuse me, we have arrived at the top. Here's a small cavern for you to explore. Maybe you'll find what you're looking for. Beware of Arcticus! Good luck! Farewell!"

Climbing off Woolly's back, they set off into the cavern.

"Ugh!" Mokuba commented. "It's too dark in here!"

"Relax, I can fix that."

Seto lit the flowers in his lantern.

"See? Now then, let's go."

They walked along until they saw a red emblem over a doorway. The blowtorch was needed now!

"Hey Moky, hand me the blowtorch. Mokuba?"

Suddenly, a blast from the blowtorch ignited the red mark above.

"No sweat, Seto. I shot it."

"Mokuba, you shouldn't play with weapons like that, that you-" Seto shook his head before he said anything more.

"Aww... that's no fun, though..."

"You're too young, you could hurt yourself. Now put it back where it was."

With a sigh, Mokuba put the blowtorch into the backpack. Sometimes life was so unfair!

Walking through the doorway, they stood in a large cavern area. In the back of the room, there appeared to be a smaller cavern. Waling out into the middle of the floor, Mokuba gave a holler.

"Hellooooo!!!"

In the shadows, Seto saw somebody turn around and look at them. Apparently, they had a prisoner and were beating him up. Julius and Malice ran over.

"Ah, you must be Battousai Reborn! I never thought that I would be the one to slay you! My name is Malice, and this is Julius."

"Heh-heh..."

Seto stared at them confused.

"YOU are going to slay ME. If I were you, I wouldn't fight me. I'm rather powerful, that I am."

Gah! Not again!

Malice sneered.

"Grr... you may talk like Battousai the man-slayer, but I'll bet you can't fight like him!"

Drawing out a blade, he lunged at Seto. He thrust it twice toward his head. Seto dodged with surprising speed. Leaping back a bit, Kaiba drew his blade and cried,

"Hiten Mitsurugi Style Do-Ryu-Sen!"

Whipping his sword forth, the ground shattered as the attack struck Malice, sending him flying. Seto quickly used the Dolphin Slash technique and he lay felled from the blow. Julius nervously looked over his fighting friend. Dead!

"You'll pay for what you did to Malice!"

"I had to defend myself. He attacked me, you see, not the other way around, if you please."

Julius ran towards Seto with a small dagger. Seto held his blade ready.

"Mitsura!" BAM! Counter succeeded, and Julius flew back. The enemy slammed his head against the rocky wall and lay there, unmoving.

Seto went over and untied the prisoner. He looked... oddly enough, like a tribal being. Like a Yanomamo.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Hey! Stay away, stinking swordsboy, or me smash you good!"

"That's not nice! Seto just saved you!"

The tribal being looked away.

"Puh. Me trust nobody but others of Nikotayo tribe!"

"Nikotayo tribe? Who are they?"

"We live in big, lush forest, filled with lotsa big trees. Is called rainforest, me thinks. We not know what happen when suddenly big man with shadow powers say, 'send you all to Meiji Era', that be here. Me and tribe came here. Built small village nearby. Hope maybe return back to rainforest, leave Meiji."

"But why did they attack you?"

"Stupid soldiers Julius and Malice, they say me take their pretty artifacts, but they big, stupid, stinking liars!"

He held out a green "T" and a comic strip.

"Whoa!" Seto exclaimed. "The fourth letter and clue!"

A loud voice was heard.

"Neither of you may take those! I will slay whoever took them from me, Arcticus!"

Seto thought back.

I heard that name before... but where?

A figure dressed in a gray parka entered the room with a zan-bato.

The prisoner threw the artifacts at Seto. Arcticus took a step towards him.

Seto threw them back at the Nikotayo villager. Arcticus took a step towards the villager.

Throwing the artifacts back into Seto's arms, the villager cried,

"You want artifacts, you take them! Me am leaving this place. Adios!" Cowardly, he ran off into the room in the back of the cavern, and stepped onto a pad illuminated by light. He vanished from clear view, as if he had teleported away.

Seto clenched his fist.

"That coward!"

"Well, it appears you're going to have to face me in a fight for those artifacts."

"Listen Arcticus, if that is your name, I didn't take your artifacts, that other guy did, so kill him, not me!"

"I care not. I need to practice with my zan-bato."

"Shiiiiit."

Mokuba was very curious.

A zan-bato? I remember Sanosuke told me about these swords... they're very big, and hardly anybody can master using them...

Taking a swing at Seto, the blade thrummed heavily with an evil sound. Seto leapt up and flipped over the enemy.

"Do-Ryu-Sen!"

The attack tore a chunk out of the zan-bato, and only a chunk. Well, this was working out swell!

Taking the blunt face of the massive blade, Arcticus struck Seto powerfully across the face.

Stars flickered everywhere and his head throbbed as Seto fell to the ground, out cold.

"No! Seto! Get up! Please, big brother!"

"Shut up, kid, you can't do anything to save him now!"

Mokuba fired a blast from the blowtorch, but Arcticus stepped nimbly aside. He now stood by Mokuba.

"No..."

With a smash from his gloved hand, Mokuba also was sent sprawling out onto the floor, out cold.

Arcticus laughed.

"Hahaha! I've won! Hahahahaha!"

Turning to the older Kaiba lying on the floor, he said,

"You were the most stubborn, digging a chunk out of my prized zan-bato. For that, I shall slaughter you first!"

~~~~

Seto walked down the hallway of KaibaCorp. Oddly, the doors now resembled wooden screens from the common dojos of ancient Japan. He entered his presidential office, and who should he see, but Kenshin and Marth! Smiling, he ran towards them. However, they stepped aside, stone-faced and serious.

"What's wrong, guys? It's me, Seto."

Marth said,

"The enemy seeks to attack you. You must fight."

"How can I fight? I'm here in KaibaCorp?"

"No you're not. You're in a very dire situation."

"But how? All I have is a sword, and he blocks my attacks!"

Kenshin said,

"Somewhere in you, there's a power with no name, and this power shall let you overthrow Arcticus. It is in your courage, pride, and determination."

He smiled.

"Now then, be stronger than anything you know. Be proud and stop him. Marth and I are cheering you on, my friend."

Suddenly seeing himself dressed in Marth's black outfit, Seto looked up. The view of Marth and Kenshin were gone, and darkness shown in. A giant sword as big as the sky, began to fly towards him.

"Come out of the darkness... and reach for the light..."

~~~~

Seto's eyes snapped open and he rolled out of the way as the zan-bato pierced the ground where he lay.

"Curses!"

"I have to say, you almost succeeded there. However, your zan-bato only gives you offensive and defensive strength, leaving you weak on speed. It is in your lack of agility that will allow me to defeat you."

For once, Arcticus felt fear. He saw why his two henchmen, Julius and Malice had been afraid of this teen-aged, brown-haired swordsman who stood before him. He could see why there had been people who had called this swordsman "Battousai Reborn". There was a glint of the battousai's spirit in the eyes of his opponent. Swallowing up his trepidation, Arcticus spoke.

"We'll see about that!" He swung his sword at Seto, and suddenly the swordsman was no longer there. He had leapt up in mid-attack, and landed behind Arcticus.

"Do-Ryu-Sen!"

Arcticus flew from the impact, and shakily stood up. But it was too late.

"Dancing Blade!"

Performing aerial maneuvers, Seto sliced into Arcticus's neck. With a cry, the parka-clad warrior fell to the ground. At last, he was defeated.

Seto fell to his knees, breathing deeply. That had to have been his most difficult fight as of so far. And yet, the battles would probably continue to come, and they would keep getting harder and harder. And when he fought against his final enemy...

That would take real skill, for a fighter like that must be strong as hell.

A small hand suddenly placed itself upon Seto's shoulder.

"You okay?"

"I'm okay. Come on, Mokuba. Let's see if whatever that Nikotayo guy stepped on can get us out of here."

Walking into the smaller cavern, Seto and Mokuba stepped onto the platform which radiated a bright light.

"Here we go!" Mokuba cried, shutting his eyes, as he seemed to feel himself being lifted from the floor. When he reopened them, they were outside, at the base of the mountain from what appeared to be east of where they had started. Now they must have been northeast from the Kamiya, so therefore they had to walk southwest to get home. It was nighttime, and Seto could easily understand why he and Mokuba felt so tired. Kenshin and Marth were probably asleep.

As they walked on, they passed through a small forest. And by a little tree sat a boy picking dandelions.

Aww... Seto thought to himself. AGH! I'm getting soft!

The boy turned around to see Seto and Mokuba standing nearby. Giggling, he held up a dandelion at Seto. His icy heart was thawing away even more. Kneeling down beside the little guy, Seto gently took the dandelion and said,

"For me? Aww! Hey there, little fella!"

Mokuba looked around at the trees.

"Hmm... I don't like this Seto..."

Rustling from the leaves above instantly made Mokuba look up. He saw a muscular man standing there.

"Seto! Look out, it's a trap!" Looking up, Seto saw the muscular man leap upon him before everything went black.

Fearfully, Mokuba ran off as far away as possible, yet hiding behind a tree. Using his binoculars, he watched the tribesmen standing all about his big brother. A tall man, with feathers in his black hair, approached the warriors.

"Good work! We caught him!"

"Yeah! But what do we do now, Chief Tanno? What about little one?"

Mokuba snuck closer to hear what this 'Chief Tanno' guy had to say.

"Little one not important. As for big one, here's what we do. Tie him to tall wood pole, execution him with spears! Little one will never see big one again!"

~~~~~~

bijoukaiba: Seto's been kidnapped! Oh no! Better keep reading and reviewing to see what happens next!